As Governor Jiahe Lan was trying to make himself look good, the martial art exhibition of the Yun family had arrived. Every major family was represented by their respective family head apart from the Xue family of course. Even the families who had sided with Patriarch Xue Liu were here. After all, they didn't have the same influence and power as the Xue family. Besides, the Governor had also insinuated that this would be a good thing if the event was well attended.
Although the Yun family had had some economic problems, and had even been forced to get into debt, they were not poor. That debt had been forced on them because there was urgency during the demonic beast stampede. Hopefully, it would soon be paid in full. That being said, they didn't go overboard with the exhibition. General Yun's goal was rather clear, he wanted to show the military might of his family. Everyone had understood that and they had come with that in mind. Even if the wine and the food weren't as good as those of the Red Realm's Banquet Hall, at the very least, they would see a great show.
Jiahe Ruo was also present. Of course, Xue Rui wasn't. Seeing the tables with wine and food made him think back about his money. During the entire event, he couldn't swallow anything.
Even now, Yun Ping was still training alone in his private courtyard. Although the Yun estate wasn't grandiose, it had much room to train. After all, the entire household was known for its military prowess.
Often Cao Yun had trained with Yun Ping under the Major Hall. But recently, he had been busier and busier. Every single time they had trained together, Yun Ping had felt like he was holding his friend back. But it was mostly in his head really. Indeed, Yun Ping had progressed a lot and progressively both Cao Yun and Yong Ke found the sparring sessions more challenging. Besides, Cao Yun was only training one move, 'The Pillar Piercing the Sky'. From the time he had come to Qingyun City, Cao Yun had probably performed this move thousands of times.
If Cao Yun had been keeping a count, he would have reached almost ten thousand repetitions of the same move. But every single time, it was different. Cao Yun was focusing on all the small subtleties in his technique. Yun Ping's technique had considerably improved. It was just his physical strength that wasn't on par with his previous ability. Otherwise, his father would have never thought about holding this exhibition. Anyway, sparring with Yun Ping had allowed Cao Yun to understand many things about his own technique.
In his sea of consciousness, Cao Yun could sometimes perceive ghostly figures in the sky all around the Horn Star. Those were the manifestations of the Horn Constellation. At the same time, the golden Insight Writings flying around in the air and floating in the ocean were shining brightly and acting with more and more life. However, they were also gaining the colors of the stars themselves here and there. Clearly, Cao Yun's understanding of the spear was getting better every time. As such, he also needed to meditate over it and not train all the time.
As much as training with Yun Ping had been useful, Cao Yun had to admit that sparring with the same partners every time was not the best option. Indeed, they would become too used to one another and their progress would slow down. In fact, this could even develop bad habits within them. Unfortunately, they were lacking other training partners right now. Cao Yun could not show his spearmanship in public as Guai Mo.
In the main courtyard, General Yun was welcoming his guests. Around him were all the other elders. Although Yun Po wasn't the oldest, he was the strongest and so were his cultivation and his martial arts. No one would contest that. Even Xue Liu was forced to admit that Yun Po was probably stronger than him. If they were to fight fair and square, Patriarch Xue would likely lose. That wasn't something he would admit in public though.
"Esteemed guests, thank you for accepting our invitation on such short notice. I know that things are getting darker and darker. Many rumors about a coming war with the demons are being spread. The great Wubei Sect almost fell because of insidious traitors and a large part of our Hongchen Kingdom suffered under the teeth and claws of unleashed demonic beasts. However, what is important to note is that we withstood all of that!
"Emperor Nuwa fought in a world where humans were considered as lowly as animals. Our ancestors were treated as cattle and slaves. Despite all the odds against her, Emperor Nuwa vanquished Demon God Da Mo. If our ancestors could survive such tyranny and debasement, then how could we fall so easily? How could we tarnish their name? Today, my family will show its might for all to see. And I invite each and every one of you to do the same. You can challenge anyone with the same cultivation as you, or lower yours to do so. Today, we want to showcase and share our martial arts. So don't fight to destroy your opponent, fight to learn from them."
The crowd cheered. And for several hours, there were many fights. Of course, the fights between Mortals started first. And slowly, more and more powerful fighters participated. Jiahe Lan also tried to insert himself in the speech of General Yun. After all, he was supposed to be the protector of the Subei Province, not the Yun family.
Finally, most of the day had gone by. It was time for General Yun's involvement. There was another reason for this exhibition. Within the Yun family, there had been more and more rumors about Yun Ping. Although everyone had found admirable his courage during the demonic beast stampede, the truth was that his strength had been greatly diminished. Thus, a majority of the elders now wanted to give his 'Eternal Rampart' to another young cultivator. This wasn't the best weapon of their family as a 4-star Human spear. But it was still very good for a Mortal Warrior and it was a family heirloom with an emotional history behind. Indeed, it had been the first spear used by their progenitor, the woman who had founded the Yun family a few centuries ago.
Today, General Yun intended to silence all those voices who didn't even dare be heard by him directly. Since Yun Ping was his son, he had grown irritated by those opinions. However, he could understand them and they were not directed against his son, they were aiming for the good of the Yun family. Knowing all that, he also knew the best way to silence them all.
"Esteemed guests, everything we saw was indeed great. But let's not forget that our old bones will be replaced by our young blood. Thus, I propose to you a fight between me and my successor, my son, Yun Ping."
Everyone was surprised, even the elders. If Yun Ping performed poorly in front of such an audience, this would be a slap to their face. And if General Yun Po lowered his strength too much to make him look good, it would immediately be seen through. What was he thinking?! However, they couldn't voice their concerns in front of outsiders. Now, they could only hope that Yun Ping had not grown too weak recently...
After he was done speaking, General Yun disappeared. The next instant, Yun Ping was standing on a wide platform that was a tiny bit above the ground. As his left sleeve was fluttering to the wind, he was holding the 'Eternal Rampart' and there was a terrifying aura all around him. Some elders finally understood that they had been mistaken to some extent. But still, this fight couldn't end well for them...
On the other side of the platform was General Yun without his armor. That was a sight to see. Almost no one among the other families had seen him in normal clothes. In fact, some even didn't recognize him even though they had seen him all day long.
General Yun drew out his own weapon. It was a spear even taller that 'Eternal Rampart', but it was extremely thin and elongated. At first glance, there was nothing impressive about it. But just being near this spear was enough to make everyone gasp for air. Even for Yun Ping who knew this weapon, it was hard to stand straight and to breathe. With this simple spear, General Yun had killed thousands upon thousands of demons. Their very blood had tempered this spear. Somehow, their killing intent was now melted within the weapon along with General Yun's.
As such, General Yun had named it 'Demon's Bane'. Originally, it was a 1-star Heaven weapon. But now it had turned into a 5-star Heaven weapon, the greatest weapon of the Yun family. Contrary to Human weapons, Heaven weapons could indeed progress in ranks. Human weapons were powerful because Qi could be injected in them. And their ranks depended mainly on how much Qi they could receive before they shattered.
Heaven weapons were different. They would absorb the Qi of their environment to nourish themselves. In a fight, this could allow a cultivator to spare his own Qi. But it also meant that by pouring Qi in their weapon, they would also increase their intimacy with it and change the very weapon. As such, their martial arts would become more and more powerful as the weapon would adapt to them. The grade then referred to how much Qi the weapon could absorb and how much of it was staying within. 'Demon's Bane' had reached the highest grade it could right now. In order to reach the Spirit grade, a 1-star Spirit blacksmith was required. But just like alchemy and array formations, no one was able to reach such a grade any longer.
A Spirit weapon could slowly form a consciousness within itself. Technically, it would begin during the Heaven stage. But in order for that spirit to form, the weapon had to be modified. Only a spiritual weapon could evolve on its own without a blacksmith. For normal weapons, it could take millenniums for a spirit to naturally form. So it wasn't strictly speaking impossible. However, most weapons simply never lasted that long without a good blacksmith to take care of them.
Anyway, when faced with his father holding his most terrible and powerful weapon, Yun Ping grabbed 'Eternal Rampart' and assumed a fighting stance. He could see in his father's eyes that he was serious. As such, Yun Ping was ready to show him to full extent of his might. He would prove that all his efforts had paid off. Of course, his father already knew that or he wouldn't have acted this way. But now, Yun Ping wanted to show everyone in the family. Not only would it improve their view of him, but it would also help his father's position.
Before the fight could even start, Yun Ping decided to show off a little. After all this was the entire point of this event.
After working several weeks on his acupoints, Yun Ping had developed a replacement for his left Lao Gong, but he had not stopped there. Indeed, he had already been close to a breakthrough. And thanks to his rigorous training, his three other Prodigious Gates had been opened. With Cao Yun's help, his new Lao Gong which was an amalgam of several acupoints could also be considered open. As such, Yun Ping had been able to break through to the 2nd-grade Mortal Warrior stage.
In front of everyone present, he fully opened all his Prodigious Gates except his Bai Hui. As his Wei Qi became denser and denser, they could all see that he had indeed broken through despite his injury. Beside, this breakthrough had been extremely stable. He hadn't used some pill to advance. If he had been able to replace his missing Lao Gong, it meant that he might very well continue his Qi cultivation in the future. If Yun Ping wasn't stuck at the 1st-grade Mortal Warrior stage, it changed everything for the elders and the entire Yun family.
Despite the rumors and the opinions of the elders, they truly liked Yun Ping and sincerely believed he had been a hero during the demonic beast stampede. However, they were also practical and had to think about the Yun family and the fate of the Subei Province before their emotional attachment. That being said, if Yun Ping could prove he was up to the task, they would be happy to keep him as the successor. Besides, General Yun Po had already suffered through the death of his wife and they wanted him to be as happy as possible. He had helped the Yun family and mankind as whole so much, he deserved some good things in life.
Both General Yun Po and his son Yun Ping were using the martial art of their ancestor, 'Thunder Breaking Wall'. This martial art had been created by the progenitor of the Yun lineage a few centuries ago. Although it wasn't very old when compared with other martial arts, it had been tempered on the battlefields. And it was absolutely terrifying when used by an entire battalion. The true strength behind this art could only shine through during a real battle between two factions.
That didn't mean that this art was useless when used by a lonely fighter. Cao Yun could testify to that as he had fought against Yun Ping in the Wubei Sect.
But this technique had several layers to it. Yun Ping had only mastered the first part of this martial art, 'Echoes of the Storm'. This part of the martial art could be taught to almost everyone who wanted to join the Yun family's forces. In other words, this was the simplest part of the martial art and no secret was in there. However, it also contained many techniques specifically designed to be easy to master. Those techniques were meant to be used by several soldiers at the same time with more or less complex battle formations.
Of course, Yun Ping had used this very martial art in Yinmen City to form the hunters. With his help, they had resisted much better than if he hadn't been there. Sadly, this hadn't been sufficient. But if he had had more time, they could have triumphed, he was sure of it.